Sports

Stanford gymnasts take another shot at Cal

The Stanford men's gymnastics team hopes to turn the tables against California when the two schools meet Saturday in Burnham Pavilion for the Big Flipoff at 7 p.m.

The Bears upset Stanford, 349.65-348.70, in last weekend's season opener for both teams.

The Bay Area rivals met again at least three more times, including a dual meet in Berkeley in late March.

Last year's NCAA runnerup, Stanford opened the season ranked as the top-ranked team while Cal was fifth.

Cal and Stanford currently have the second and third, respectively, leading team scores in the nation. Illinois is at the top with a 355.40.

Tim Gentry is ranked fifth in all-around, and ranks second on the still rings with a score of 15.400. He also ranks sixth, tied with teammate John Martin, on the horizontal bars.

Ryan Lieberman ranks sixth on the still rings. Josh Dixon and Cale Robinson rank fifth and sixth, respectively, on the floor exercise. Dixon also ranks fourth on vault and third on the horizontal bars while Alex Buscaglia is sixth on vault and fourth on the bars.

Women's gymnastics

The Stanford women's gymnastics team host UCLA Sunday in Burnham Pavilion at 2 p.m. in a Pac-10 competition between two of the top teams in the country.

The Cardinal won the Pac-10 Showcase in Los Angeles two weeks agoand will now go head-to-head with the Bruins.

Stanford ranks second in the nation, behind Florida, with a high score of 196.625. UCLA ranks eighth with a 195.9235. Oregon State ranks sixth and future Pac-12 member Utah is fourth.

Stanford's Allyse Ishino ranks fourth individually in all-around competition following her 39.350. She's second in uneven bars and on the floor exercise.

Shelley Alexander ranks eighth all-around with a score of 39.250. Ashley Morgan is the top-ranked competitor in the floor exercise, scoring 9.925. Cardinal Alyssa Brown ranks fourth in the uneven bars and Nicole Pechanec is tied for sixth.

Kristina Vaculik and Morgan share sixth on the balance beam.

Synchronized swimming

Three members of the Stanford synchronized swimming team were selected to the 2011 U.S. National Team 1 training squad over the weekend.

Michelle Moore, Megan Hansley and Morgan Fuller were all selected to the team last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. The trio will be a part of the U.S. National Team 1, which will compete in the World Championships in Shanghai, China from July 16 through July 31.

Moore and Hansley were a part of the National Team 1 during the summer of 2010 along with current Cardinal junior Olivia Morgan.

Morgan and junior Maria Koroleva were both members of the U.S. National Team last year and have rejoined the Cardinal team for the 2011 season. The pair placed third at the 2010 U.S. Collegiate Nationals in the duet competition and were joined by former Cardinal Taylor Durand for second-place finish in the trio event.

Stanford opens the 2011 season on Saturday, Jan. 29 as it hosts the University of Incarnate Word at the Avery Aquatic Center at 3 p.m.

Swimming

Both the men and women's swimming teams open Pac-10 competition this weekend. The first stop is Friday in Tucson against Arizona, followed by a trip to Tempe and a meet with Arizona State.

The women are currently ranked first in the nation by collegeswimming.com while Arizona is ranked seventh. Four Pac-10 teams are among the top seven, with USC and California toed at No. 4.

Cardinal senior Austin Staab, who returned to school after taking a leave of absence last year, was named National Swimmer of the Week after helping Stanford beat Pacific two weeks ago.

Men's volleyball

Stanford may be the most popular visiting team to play at Hawaii. That's because seven of its players are from the state, including reigning Player of the Week Brad Lawson, along with assistant coach Chris McLachlin.

Stanford opened its conference season with a 25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 19-25, 17-15 victory over BYU at Maples Pavilion on Friday.

On Saturday at Burnham Pavilion, Stanford again beat BYU, 25-23, 25-17, 24-26, 25-22, for its first-ever regular-season sweep of BYU in a two-match series.

The Warriors opened their season by hosting the Outrigger Hotels Invitational and lost all three matches, to Ball State, Penn State, and UCLA. It's the first time in the 17-year event Hawaii has gone winless.

Stanford has a seven-match winning streak in the series, winning the past six in straight sets. Stanford is on a 19-set winning streak against Hawaii and has not dropped a set since Feb. 27, 2008.

Stanford is looking to start 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2001.